10 Tricks Clubs Use To Keep Players
This summer (much like every summer before it) football sees a mad dash for the good and not-so-good footballers around the world which is reported on/fueled by the can-do-no-wrong-with-free-speech press and their always-telling-the-truth journalists.
It can turn ugly, especially with players’ heads being turned by the thoughts of more money, greater glory and managers doing their best to hold on to players. This summer we’ve seen managers use a variety of techniques to convince their players to stay, and we thought it would be a fun idea to make a list of current and old methods.
Without further ado, the top 10 strategies managers have used to keep their players from leaving during transfer season:
10. Manchester United: We’re Not Letting Him Go
From threatening to let him ‘rot in the reserves for four years’ to suggesting he move his family to Manchester in an attempt to call the ‘I want to be closer to family’ bluff, Manchester United did everything possible to keep their hands on Cristiano Ronaldo. They even went to FIFA to complain about Madrid, which is ridiculous if you consider that FIFA loves Madrid and that Calderon is too smart with his comments to be caught in any way.
If you have a player on a long-term contract, I guess the best thing to do is to tell him to shut up and report for training….
9. Liverpool: Let’s Give Him More Money
When Steven Gerrard wanted to leave Liverpool for two consecutive summers, the club did what any jealous, not-so-pretty girlfriend would do when her guy wants to trade her in for a hotter model – they laid down and invited Gerrard to walk all over them.
Is it foolish to think that Steven Gerrard would have won a league title by now if he’d moved to Chelsea a few summers ago?
8. Lyon/Sevilla: We Want Your Stadium In Exchange
Lyon and Sevilla have a different strategy – when a team comes calling, they do some creative maths and somehow end up overpricing the player by 3x. Usually that scares teams off, as Chelsea broke off negotiations for Daniel Alves last summer (for all their billions, a few extra million could have given them the Champions League, who knows?). When it doesn’t work, they rake in ridiculous amounts of money.
7. Aston Villa: We Have Players To Buy
Martin O’Neill’s idea of imposing a ‘deadline’ on Barry’s move was in theory a very good idea – get Liverpool to pay or get on with next season’s preparations. Unfortunately, Villa had already bought Sidwell for midfield and are funding new purchases (Young, Shorey) in the expectation that selling Barry will pay for all that.
I guess if you need the money, principles come second….
6. Chelsea: We’ll Keep Him Till His Contract Runs Out
It’s not enough that they’ve gotten the best years out of the player, they now want to keep him for another year in protest of his ‘desire’ to leave. I sympathise with Chelsea on this one – they may not have handled Lampard right but who lets their vice-captain and club icon walk out on a transfer when you don’t need the money anyway?
5. Bayern Munich: We’ll Fine The Bastard
And that’s exactly what they did after Owen Hargreaves dared to speak to the press about his dream to play for Manchester United. Hargo’s free now but for a while it seemed like Bayern would do what Chelsea are doing with Lampard, only for 3-4 years.
And when they sold the player? They said the upside was that they wouldn’t need to pay his wages….
4. Barcelona: We Want Them To Go
One of the best transfer strategies I’ve seen is Barca’s ‘we want them to leave’ ploy. They knew there would be speculation around the futures of Ronaldinho, Eto’o and Deco with bids coming in from left and right, so they did the smartest possible thing – they put each player up for sale, with a reasonable price-tag, and told the football world to pay or keep moving.
3. Tottenham: We Accept Charity Donations
You’d think that the most notable thing to happen last month at White Hart Lane was Tottenham reporting United and Liverpool to the Premier League for tapping up their strikers. Nope, that’s far from it. Not only did they turn around where Keane was concerned when the words ‘insane profits’ were whispered but they cheerfully dropped all charges when offered a donation by Liverpool to their charity.
As a matter of public record, Soccerlens now accepts donations….
2. Arsenal: Wait for it…
Far more ingenious than it looks. First they wait as long as possible till the clubs chasing their players have bought other players and are now low on cash. Then they reduce the asking price to what the previous offer was, knowing full well that even if the suitor can pay the price they’ll have to cut down the wage bill, which would turn the player off as he wanted higher wages in the first place.
Brilliant.
1. Real Madrid: No, They Don’t Want To Go
Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Madrid have a knack for being #1 on many lists. Most Champions League Titles, Most Popular Club, Most Valuable Club (though United have their number on that one), Most Popular Player Destination, and now, Best Transfer Strategy.
Imagine this – for a month, your star forward’s agent has been going on and on to the press about how his client wants to leave. Then, the day after the agent quotes the player as saying that he’s anxious to leave for Chelsea, Calderon tells the press that “no, he want’s to stay.”
I didn’t know denial worked as a transfer strategy but if Calderon can live in denial for the next 3 weeks he’ll get to keep Robinho for another season.
Comic by Chris Toy – Studs Up
So there you have it – the top 10 ways clubs deal with wantaway players. I’m sure you guys have more, so let us know in the comments.
re : Aston Villa
The funny thing is Villa don’t need and don’t want to sell..
The line “guess if you need the money, principles come second….” is quite frankly laughable
The Villa line is not true. O’Neill is not trying to get money for Barry to pay for other players. Randy Lerner’s right-hand man has already stated they have funds in place already. Villa want £18m because they want to be more than compensated for losing their captain. Please try to get your facts right.
Not bad, although Villa have a billionaire owner who’s right hand man has just come out and said they could spend £30m on one player so I’m not sure where you got the info from that they are spending the Barry sale cash on new players.
What AL said,
Randy Lerner is a billionaire and has set about running Aston Villa as a business. While obviously this does not mean splashing the cash Leeds/Abrahmovic-style, Martin O’Neill is not under a remit of sell-to-buy.
So what’s the point in recycling, something you read in a stupid red top, that is wrong…
You forgot the Manchester City – ‘TOYS OUT OF THE PRAM’ where the the sale goes through almost to conclusion and the manager says ‘if he goes I go too’so whatever the player’s feeling are on the subject, the deal is off!
The writer of this article is definitely a Liverpool fan and has just blown his supposedly unbiased cover. Try reporting facts. By the way Barry won’t leave for a penny less than our valuation, as we have no need to sell in order to buy.
“”Is it foolish to think that Steven Gerrard would have won a league title by now if he’d moved to Chelsea a few summers ago?”"
No, but he’d have missed out on the Champions league winners Medal, and at least he has his dignity intact!
I’m not quite sure where you get your information for this article, but the following comment, shows a disdinct lack of understanding of the situation at villa park;
“Unfortunately, Villa had already bought Sidwell for midfield and are funding new purchases (Young, Shorey) in the expectation that selling Barry will pay for all that.”
There is no financial requirement for us to sell our captain and principles are something which will be found at villa park in abundance, especially when compared to the mega greed of the top four.
Presumably the author of this article is a journalist by trade? I would suggest that you spend more time researching what you write or consider an altenative vocation.
Before you go insinuating that there was something untoward about Spurs accepting 1.3 Million for their charity in return for dropping the charges made to the FA regarding Liverpool – you might just look at all of the good the Spurs charity does in their local community and further afield. I don’t know of any other club who gives back to the community in the way that spurs does. Fair play to Spurs. It’s great to see a club that understands that it can play an important role in community development and chooses to do so.
Alexie- you should just f..k off. Ahmed is a crazy mantd fan, you just insulted him….
I mean all manu fan will be insulted being called lfc fans and vice-versa.
And those who come to slate me, learn English beforehand and understand fully what I have ’said’.
You called the Villa situation wrong there, I’m glad to say. Villa don’t need to raise cash from the Barry sale to buy players – which is a good job, as It now seems that Liverpool have found their piggy bank isn’t as full as they thought it was.
AND the comic are funny.Keep it up.
That Robinho drawing was absolute class. I hardly ever laugh out loud on the internet but I sure as hell just did.
Soccerlens – “Football news you can trust”
Quite clearly it is not football news that you can trust!
Did anyone do any research to write this article? Anyone that has got half an interest in football knows that Villa were always going to buy numerous players during the close season and the Gareth Barry sarga does not make any difference! Claiming that Villa need the money is behond rediculous.
I know if there is no news- lets just make some!
Well done to all the Villa fans that have already added their feelings and opinions on this terrible article that has no factual foundations!
Harasuke please believe that it matters not who the writer of the above supports. The real point of the whole article is that clubs have to try to keep their players by whatever means at their disposal. Players use the press to do their dirty work, so why can’t a club pull out a few stunts of it’s own. I do agree that some facts like villa needing to sell to buy are wrong, but who cares really as our opinions don’t matter and we can’t manipulate nothing in the transfer market. At this moment in time I hate Liverpool FC with a passion for their whole underhand approach towards Barry, but even I remember supporting them in the champions League final as their success brought more respect to the premier league for having a team from England winning it AGAIN…….
still remember juve’s trying on alonso? i guess it will be the same to all clubs in any part in the world that they will sell the players with the ‘right’ price.
Just because you do not agree with a aprt of an article does not make it terrible. You need to lighten up; this was quite funny and, to a large extent, true.
One thing I do not understand though, how is putting players up for sale a strategy to keep them? I thought that was meant to make sure that the players know they are no longer wanted and have the possibility to leave if they choose.
Also, brilliant on the Lyon strategy: “50 million wouldn’t buy Benzema’s eeearrrr”
Villa don’t need the money, fine. I knew that before I wrote that bit. I also know that there’s a large section of Villa fans who feel that money is NOT being spent.
Plus pricing Barry at 18m surely pays off for the other players, right?
In any case, that was one of the weaker parts, thanks for everyone pointing it out.
To the gentleman who talked about Gerrard winning the Champions League, he had a chance to walk out right after winning it, Chelsea won the league the season after that, he’d have won it if he had moved.
Andrei,
you remind of something Gordon Strachan said recently:
“They have Luka Modric, David Bentley, Dimitar Berbatov – then the left-back Gareth Bale comes on and he’s worth £12m.
It’s easy for them to progress when they have money to spend. We don’t have that money and we have to do our best with what we’ve got and make players better.
What are our limits? Do you get half a Bentley, a quarter of Bentley? Do we get Bentley’s right leg?”
Andrei – if they price them ridiculously, i guess they get to keep him when no one buys them…and if the worst happens and they ARE bought, well, you could go out and buy two bentleys with 15m. Or 3 if you’re French and like waiting a couple of years.
To ALL Villa Fans…. before you accuse Ahmad of not having the facts, examine your facts. They all come from the same place. Ahmad’s spectulation is no different than yours. Well, unless of course, you know Randy Lerner. If So, I will shut up. Otherwise, assuming Aston Villa’s past… they need the Barry money for current deals. God knows that if someone in Finance comes out and says we’ll spend 30 million on the right player, there is no bullshit there.
the whole transfer window is spectulation, until a move is actually brokered. Then these douche bags all report different numbers anyway.
Hell, let Ahmad say what he wants, he is a Man U fan who is always used to upgrades in his squad.
Steve I’m not sure you’re on about the same things. Do you know for a fact that no-one here knows Randy anyway(I don’t, but his profile says it all). Past Aston Villa dealings were done by Doug Ellis and Randy hasn’t done too bad in terms of investment so far. Randy and MON have a vision and constant speculation will not change it one IOTA.
We will be great again, maybe not now but soon. Limits on foreign players will even the field out and Aston Villa will be one club ready and a mostly english contingent well established.
Where did you get this joke writer from. Davis 10k, Guzan 2k, Friedel 2.5k, Young 6k, Shorey 4k, Sidel 5.5k, Cuellar 8k. Total spent this summer 38,000,000. Villa need the money. What a laugh.
£38M and I don’t think we’ve finished yet… and MON has said today that if Barry is still here on Wednesday morning..he may well be on the plane to Iceland….This will significantly devalue Barry because he won’t be able to play in CL until after Xmans… MON himself said he would be “delighted” if Barry stayed at Villa Park! So how can you say we need to sell to buy???
This is not the Ellis era ….
I think..perhaps FIFA has to issue a new ruling in which a player’s salary range should be on par with his market rate or any price put on him by his club ( Whichever is higher). Clubs will NOT be able to overprice their players as NOW they will have to raise his salary in tandem with his price tag. This will STOP clubs from stopping exquisite players from moving on to Greater clubs.
One word to describe this piece: “Lazy”.
I think everyone out of the Aston Villa loop is working on the idea that the club is still run by Doug ” Corner Shop” Ellis, the man who turned The Champions of Europe into also rans.
Start thinking for yourself, Ahmed.
Look at what is happening in England’s Second City with eyes open and analyse with insight and original thought – NOT Londoncentric/SKY4 cliche.
England’s Original Giant is steadily coming back to life. Don’t allow yourself to get caught out.
Peace.
AVFC1874 COF1888
MorSpurs, How does that work in the instance that say, player X, let’s call him ‘Cristiano Ronaldo’, is locked into a 4 year deal ? There is no reason that contract should be altered because a better (richer) team comes along. Clubs shouldn’t be FORCED to sell players.
“Tough Shit Garry Barry, wait till your deal is done and sign for free.”